Review of Apollo 18 (2011) by Marischa B — 19 Feb 2012

...and I hope the people next to me in the cinema couldn't hear me yawning, which I started doing after about half-way.

These 'found footage' movies have varied over the years, since The Blair Witch Project kicked it all off. I had mixed feelings about that, but overall I felt it was an effective chiller: what's NOT seen is often so much scarier. Cloverfield, for me, remains at the top of the list, while the PA films are way down.

Apollo 18 isn't far from the bottom, either. The premise was intriguing, and I genuinely expected some sort of development in the genre - something like a cross between Blair Witch and Alien. What I got was 90 minutes of predictability and disappointment. The sense of isolation and claustrophobia was well done, but little else. I felt some sense of a tension build-up for perhaps a half-hour - but then it dissipated once the nature of the 'horror' became apparent.

I came away feeling that here was a great opportunity missed. It's worth seeing for the technical excellence and attention to detail. Just don't expect to see anything new - or anything that'll frighten the pants off you.